Running into two motorbike accidents in two runs

Running into two motorbike accidents in two runs

It has not been an easy week for my eyes.  The things that I have seen!  Take Sunday, two days ago for instance.  I was walking from Uthiru to Kawangware with the intention of exercising my legs in readiness for the Monday long run of the next day.  I was immersed in my own world, without a care in the world, as the music played through the earphones, as I walked down the road towards Gathondeki.

At some point on my walk I did think that I had heard some popping sound just as I passed the three or so shops at Gathondeki to my right.  With the earphones on, it was just some pop sound.  My curiosity would see me turn back just in time to see someone rolling on the tarmac.  There was so much to accommodate in the short duration that I had turned back.  A man was for sure rolling along the tarmac and a bag was rolling behind him.  The bag would soon come to a stop behind the rolling person.  I would momentarily see the rolling person come to a stop just besides the tarmac, then see him limp back to pick the bag that was lying in the middle of the tarmac.  

The road was relatively free of traffic at this time of about eleven.  I would then look just in front of the person who was now limping with the bag, and see a motorbike lying besides the road, with the rider also just getting up from the ground.  He also limped out of the heap of the bike and started walking towards the person with the bag.  A crowd was starting to gather.  Vehicles from both sides of the road were coming to a standstill at that point.  

I could not figure out why this happened, since I could not see any other vehicle or bike that could have contributed to this incident in terms of some collision.  I had just witnessed a motorbike bring down both the rider and the passenger.  It was not a pleasant sight, though both users did not seem seriously injured.  That scene would remain with me for some time as I walked along towards Kawangware, and later walked back.

Yesterday was a Monday.  Another day of a long weekly run.  I started the run at 4.15pm on the same route that runs from Uthiru to Gitaru and back, with the twists through the Mary Leakey school and the Uni farm.  The weather was hot but running was a must.  I was tired, but what else is expected of such a run anyway.

I would finally, after 16k of running, do my U-turn at the newly constructed Gitaru-Wangige road at Gitaru and start on my way back.  The way back is generally downhill on Kanyariri road.  The run was generally uneventful.  My tired body really wanted to experience that relief of a rest at the finish line.  I kept pushing myself towards the finish line and really longed for the end of run.

I had just passed Junel school on my right, and the tank, which is the junction towards the Uni farm on my left, when I saw a motorbike approach my run direction.  I did not make much of it since motorbikes and vehicles are common on this part of the road.  However, this particular motorbike seemed to behave strangely.  It was on an uphill climb, while I was heading downhill.  

The bike seemed to start wobbling as it approached a speed bump on the road.  I would be approaching the same bump in less than ten run steps.  And just like that, the bike wobbled dangerously all the way to a fall.  I reached that bump in time to see three men struggle to get up from their fall while the fallen bike constrained their struggle to get up from the ground.  I passed them as they dusted themselves up and laughed over the incident.  They did not seem injured.

This incident remained in my mind until I finished the run about thirty minutes later.  I did not even feel the pain of the twenty-seven ks.  It was the pain of the two motorbike incidences of the past two days that pained me.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 16, 2021